From Collapse To Compounding Growth: The Bihar Story Under NDA & Nitish Kumar

There was a time, not too long ago, when Bihar symbolized despair. Before 2005, the state was crippled by broken roads, erratic power, and a collapsing law-and-order system. Industry shunned it, educated youth fled it, and ordinary citizens lived in fear. The future looked like an endless cycle of decline.

That cycle broke in 2005, when the NDA, led by Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, came to power. The first task was not glamorous but urgent: restore law and order, bring back governance, and create trust in the system. A state that had slipped into lawlessness was pulled back to the rule of law. For the first time in decades, people began to believe that Bihar could be governed.

Then came the rebuilding. Roads and bridges began to connect villages that had been forgotten for generations. Electricity, once available for barely a few hours, reached homes across rural Bihar. Schemes like the cycle yojana for girls and 50 percent reservation for women in Panchayati Raj institutions changed the social fabric of villages. Education and healthcare started to receive serious investment. The message was clear: development would no longer be a slogan, but a lived reality.

The results are visible in the numbers. Bihar’s economy, which barely managed 5 percent growth before 2005, shot up to double digits in the following decade. Between 2014 and 2020, the state maintained an average growth rate of over 8 percent. In 2023–24 alone, Bihar registered 9.2 percent growth, with the economy now valued at nearly ₹11 lakh crore. Per capita income, which was just one-third of India’s average in 2005, has crossed ₹66,800 today. Electricity consumption, once among the lowest in India at 70 units per person, has tripled. More than 66,000 kilometers of roads and over 5,400 bridges were built between 2005 and 2015, while another 55,000 kilometers of rural roads have been added in the past decade. Immunization coverage has risen from 18 percent in 2005 to 78 percent, out-of-school children have fallen from 12 percent to under 2 percent, and infant mortality has been halved.

Yet critics still ask: if so much has been done in the past 20 years, why are the biggest results visible only now? The answer lies in the law of compounding. The world’s greatest investor, Warren Buffett, often says that compounding is the most powerful force in wealth creation. But compounding does not show its magic immediately. A bad stock must first be stabilized, losses must be stopped, and a base must be created. Only after years of patient reinvestment does the exponential growth curve appear.

Bihar’s story is no different. From 2005 to 2010, the focus was on stopping the decline — restoring order, building credibility, and putting governance back on track. Between 2010 and 2020, the base was strengthened through investments in infrastructure, education, women’s empowerment, and healthcare. Since 2020, Bihar has entered the take-off stage — where every reform and investment made earlier is compounding into bigger results. What seemed like modest steps over two decades are now multiplying into giant leaps.

The coming decade will make this clearer. Industrial corridors, agro-based industries, expressways, and digital infrastructure are being developed at scale. Villages are being connected not just by roads but by opportunities. The compounding ladder is now visible: reforms made quietly in the past 20 years are creating a momentum that will carry Bihar forward at a pace unseen before.

From being dismissed as India’s most backward state, Bihar is today rewriting its destiny. The journey has not been about instant miracles, but about patient, consistent governance. The NDA and Nitish Kumar spent 20 years rebuilding a broken state. The next 20 will be about accelerating growth on that rebuilt foundation.

As Bihar heads into the 2025 elections just a month away, this is not just another political contest. It is once again a defining moment for the future of every Bihari — and for the generations to come. The choice before the people is whether to continue on the path of compounding growth and transformation, or to risk undoing the hard-earned gains of the last two decades.

This is the true story of Bihar’s transformation: from collapse to compounding growth, from despair to a future of confidence.

Sammridh Varma is a spokesperson at BJYM, social activist, and NMIMS Mumbai alumnus working towards sustainable development and rural transformation in Bihar.

Published on: Sunday, October 05, 2025, 07:34 AM IST